A fastening device having a pin with an enlarged head and a central longitudinal bore to receive a rod having a head with a drive receiving recess and a footed keeper. The pin and rod have adjacent surfaces that aid in the prevention of turning relative to each other. In use, the pin, with the footed keeper in alignment, is inserted to aligned openings in overlapping maps used in roadways and a tool is used to turn the keeper a quarter turn to prevent the pin from coming out of the opening and securing the mat.
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1. A fastening device for securing one mat to another mat, said fastening device comprising:
a. A rigid pin body shaped to be received into aligned holes in a pair of overlapping mats to prevent free rotation of said pin within said mats, said pin body having a bottom end and a top end and an enlarged head located on said top end of said pin, said enlarged head being larger than said bottom end, and a central longitudinal bore extending completely through said pin from said enlarged head to said bottom end, b. an elongated rod having an enlarged head at one end which is smaller than said enlarged head of said pin, a midbody and a footed end, and said rod rotatably received in said central longitudinal bore of said pin body, said rod having a drive receiving recess in one end thereof, with said drive receiving recess disposed slightly below the top horizontal plane of said headed end of said pin, said rod having an elongated keeper rigidly connected to the other end thereof, said keeper being disposed generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said rod and disposed below said bottom of said pin body, said keeper being shaped that said keeper is rotatable when said rod is rotated around its longitudinal axis between a rest position, wherein said keeper remains within the longitudinal projected volume of said pin body, and a locking position, wherein said keeper is rotated outside of the longitudinal projected volume of said pin body and beneath the bottom of one of said mats, wherein said keeper can rotate 360 degrees about its longitudinal axis wherein said midbody of said rod has at least one longitudinally raised ridge, and said central longitudinal bore of said pin has at least one ridge receiving recess which contacts and receives said raised ridge on said rod during rotation of said rod relative to said pin to restrict free rotation of said rod, and wherein said keeper has an upper surface which is tapered upwardly toward a crown, wherein said keeper has two ends and two parallel sides, and said upper surface of said keeper tapers helically upward from each of said parallel sides of said keeper toward each of said ends of said keeper.
2. The mat fastening device of
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This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/657,012, filed Sep. 7, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for securing articles together. In particular, the present invention relates to a device for securing together mats used as structural supports for roadways and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many fastening devices for joining various elements are known in the art. A few examples of such devices are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,779,422; 4,801,232; 4,498,827; and 2,811,765. Other fastening devices have specific applications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,586 discloses an automatic twist lock primarily used with shipping containers, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,349 discloses a fastening device for assembly of components of pieces of furniture or furnishings in general.
A smaller number of such devices are used to interconnect and secure flat shaped components. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,962 discloses an interlocking assembly for modular loading dock units.
Rigid large sized industrial mats are used as structural supports. Multiple mats can be placed adjacent to each other and connected together to provide support for roadways and other structures. When adjacent mats are secured together, the collection of secured mats function as one large mat rather than a collection of individual mats. Any successful fastening device must provide substantial holding strength to secure the mats and prevent separation. Particularly, when mats are used in roadway surfaces, extreme pressures are placed on the adjoining mats and the locking mechanism.
Some devices in use to secure the mats include fasteners with carriage bolts that restrict lateral movement of the mats but do not successfully restrict vertical movement. With movement of the mats relative to each other, the carriage bolts often work their way out, presenting a hazard to personnel and vehicles using the mats.
Other fastening devices use a keeper drawn up by a screw; however, harsh conditions and contaminants such as mud, sand and/or debris can impair the operation of any threaded device or devices that allow contaminants to enter and impair their working mechanisms. The present invention does not utilize threaded elements and is better adapted to operate in harsh conditions.
The present invention provides a fastening device for fastening and securing adjacent panels or mats together by placement of the fastening device in slots in overlapping lips of adjacent mats and includes a keeper which is rotated under the bottom of adjacent mats to prevent removal of the fastening device.
The fastening device includes a rigid pin with an enlarged head, and a central bore. The pin is shaped to fit aligned slots or holes of adjacent mats, and the pin is generally of an oblong shape to resist rotation in the aligned holes. The depth of the pin is designed to match the depth of two overlapping mats.
The enlarged head of the pin prevents the pin from dropping through the mat hole and ideally is engineered and designed to allow the pin to drop to a level to be flush with the top of the mat when locked into place. The enlarged head of the pin has a top opening to the central bore which can also receive a protective cap.
The central bore of the pin receives a footed rod having an enlarged head with a drive receiving recess which can be protected by placing a protective cap in the top opening of the central bore of the pin. The footed end of the rod has a keeper aligned generally perpendicular to the rod and placed below and outside of the pin body. In its preferred embodiment, the keeper has a tapered or helical surface that allows easier rotation of the keeper during its initial contact with the bottom of the mat. The tapered feature provides some compression of the mats as the thickest portion of the keeper fully contacts the bottom of the mat.
In use, the pin, with its keeper in the unlocked position such that the keeper does not extend outside the longitudinal projected body of the pin, is inserted into aligned openings of the mated articles. A torque-applying tool is then inserted in the drive receiving recess to turn the rod and the keeper resulting in the keeper extending into the longitudinal projected volume of the bottom mat to prevent pin removal. The wall of the pin bore and midbody of the rod have interacting surfaces which aid in the prevention of free tuning relative to each other.
The fastening device of the invention shown in
Pin body 10a has a flat oblong bottom end 11 lying in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of pin body 10a. Pin body 10a has an enlarged head 12 connected to the top of pin body 10a generally in the same oblong shape as the pin body 10a but larger than the oblong cross-section of pin body 10a. The enlarged head 12 is configured to contact the recessed edge E of the mat T to prevent the pin assembly 10 from falling completely through mat hole or slot S. The enlarged head 12 has a top opening 14 to a central longitudinal bore 20 in pin body 10a. The enlarged head 12 has a first indent 16 therein for receiving an extractor device and second indent 18 located on the opposite side of enlarged head 12 for receiving an extractor tool or device. As shown in
Extending from the bottom 11 of pin body 10a is an oblong keeper generally indicated by the numeral 30 which is preferably made of metal and is sized and configured such that in its rest position, the keeper 30 remains within the longitudinal projected volume of the pin body 10a. In this rest position, keeper 30 and pill body 10a can be fitted into aligned holes S of the overlapping lips of mats B and T. The horizontal plane of the flat bottom 31 of keeper 30 is generally parallel to the horizontal plane of the enlarged head 12.
Referring to
As further shown in
Referring to
During rotation of rod 40 as shown in
Referring to
Referring to
In the process of manufacturing the fastening device of the invention, rod 40 and ridges 42, 44, 46, and 48 are made of metal, and a polymeric plastic material is injected into a mold in the shape of pin body 10a having metal rod 40 therein, creating pin body 10a having bore recesses 60, 62, 64 and 66 corresponding to rod ridges 42, 44, 46 and 48.
Referring to
Referring to
Rogers, D. Scott, Fontenot, Corey J., Couvillion, Don A., Latiolais, Ronald L.
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Sep 07 2000 | STELLY, JR , JOSEPH RAYMOND | SOLOCO, L L C | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016402 | /0103 | |
Sep 07 2000 | LATIOLAIS, RONALD J | SOLOCO, L L C | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016402 | /0103 | |
Sep 07 2000 | COUVILLION, DON A | SOLOCO, L L C | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016402 | /0103 | |
Sep 07 2000 | FONTENOT, COREY J | SOLOCO, L L C | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016402 | /0103 | |
Sep 07 2000 | ROGERS, D SCOTT | SOLOCO, L L C | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016402 | /0103 | |
Feb 22 2001 | SOLOCO, L L C | OLS CONSULTING SERVICES, INC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016402 | /0076 | |
Aug 05 2002 | OLS Consulting Services, Inc. | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / | |||
Mar 14 2006 | OLS CONSULTING SERVICES, INC | COMPOSITE MAT SOLUTIONS, L L C | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 018490 | /0467 | |
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